Grandia HD Remaster
GRANDIA HD Remaster is out now! Celebrate its exciting adventures once again!
GRANDIA tells the story of Justin, the protagonist, and his companions in a race against the evil Garlyle Forces to uncover the long-lost secrets of an ancient civilization. Experience the game that became an instant classic and is considered to be one of the most influential RPGs of all time.
Originally created by Game Arts, developers of such classics as the Lunar series, GRANDIA was met with wide critical acclaim when released for the SEGA Saturn in 1997 and PlayStation® in 1999. GRANDIA recieved numerous awards including GameSpot Editor’s Choice, IGN Editor’s Choice Award and an Award for Excellence from the CESA AWARDS ’97, currently known as “Japan Game Awards”.
GRANDIA HD Remaster features:
- Enhanced UI, sprites, and texture art details
- Original cinematic videos that have been visually enhanced
- Widescreen support and customizable resolutions (PC only)
- Steam Achievements (PC only)
- Audio: Japanese and English
- Language Support: Original English plus French and German translation (Japanese added at a later date)
- Gamepad and keyboard support with remappable controls (PC only)
Grandia HD Remaster Review
Grandia is a tale of adventure, where a young troublemaker named Justin embarks on a journey with his childhood friend Sue to uncover the secrets of a lost civilization. It’s a simple story, but the execution is where it shines. The localization flows surprisingly well for a game released in 1999, adding to the story’s undeniable charm. The English voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, even for 90s standards, so I’m thankful for the option to switch to Japanese voices this time around. Few RPGs today have half the energy of Grandia; you’re constantly seeing new and interesting sights. The battle system matches that same energy, with an evolution on the active time battle system that adds a chaotic and lively spin to it. As cliché as it is to say, this game makes you feel like you’re going on an actual adventure. It’s exhilarating, to say the least.
Grandia II mixes things up quite a bit, but it works better than I expected it to. If the first game had an optimistic tone, this one could be better described as cynical. Edgy, even. Our protagonist is Ryudo, a rude mercenary called a “Geohound”. He takes a job one day to escort a church songtress named Elena to a mysterious ritual. As you can guess, things go horribly wrong, and Ryudo is tasked with escorting her on her new adventure. For a price, of course. He’s quite unbearable, but that’s sort of the point. Ryudo’s travels slowly make him grow as a person, and we might take for granted that making an RPG protagonist this unlikable was rare 19 years ago. From a gameplay perspective, it improves on just about everything from the original. The English voices here are certainly an improvement on this original, though Japanee voices are also available, too.
The remastering job isn’t without its merits, but I couldn’t help but feel that most of it was a bit of a mixed bag. Grandia II, with polygonal character models, made the transition well, but Grandia struggled in quite a few areas. How big of a deal to you the changes made are vary depending on personal preference, but it’s worth pointing them out.
As said before, I can’t stress enough just how wonderful both of these games are. Even with the issues I mentioned, I still had a great time playing through these two classics. These are thrilling tales of adventure with witty writing, charming characters, and plots that will constantly surprise you. The gameplay is fun, but simple at the same time. There’s never a dull moment with these two games, and they’re beloved for just that reason.
It says so much about the quality of these first two Grandia games, where I’m able to acknowledge all the flaws of this release but still come off it feeling positive. I hope GungHo supports the collection after launch with patches to polish things up, but even in its current state, I find this to be a solid Remaster.
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